Molecular
by sweetlilsunshine
Summary: She was born an anomaly, because of that she was made an experiment. So many are fascinated with the girl with the ability to regrow limbs and filter out diseases; Caesar is only just one of many. To them she is a miracle. To herself she is a prisoner, forever hanging upon the lives of the two children she holds close to he heart.


_**A/n: I do not own any One Piece copyrights.**_

Caesar stood on the street corner alone, dreaming in the way one could only do when they were bored.

It was the same dream, the one he had been reveling in since Vegapunk had first shot down one of his more brilliant ideas. He was in the laboratories back on Punk Hazard, surrounded by his vats of toxic gasses, watching them writhe under the glass. He moved through this space with arrogance, in possession of a confidence that the real him, the one that lived forever in the shadow of a foolish scientist, had never been allowed to hold. His head was raised. There was no Vegapunk here; he was in control.

He raised a hand to silence the roaring of his followers, but the action did nothing. The sound continued until it wasn't appreciation that he heard, only laughter.

Caesar lifted his head as the pleasant daydream shattered, masking his annoyance with a smile that was too wide. On the other side of the street, in a dreary little park, was a woman. Two small children, a boy and a girl, chased a puppy in circles around her. She was the one laughing, long and loud and with very few breaths in-between.

The sound was irritating, filled with unattractive snorts and loud gasps for air. In a fit of scientific pondering, Caesar wondered what would happen if he were to expose her to one of the gasses he wore on his cloak. There was one, a variation of the gas bomb he was working on in Punk Hazard, that would only increase the victim's pain the harder they breathed.

His finger twitched. The gas had not been tested yet; surely this island would not miss one woman?

But then the boy tripped, landing hard on his left ankle in such a way that the resounding 'crack' reached even his ears. The woman stopped laughing and Caesar abandoned his thoughts in favor of watching what was sure to be an entertaining performance. He always did like watching his test subjects react to suffering. There had been many a time that he had gassed one holding cell just so that he could observe the reactions of another.

Those men had screamed, cried, panicked, some had even tried to escape. But this woman? What would she do? Caesar found himself leaning forward. Her hair and skin tone were similar to the boy; they shared the same dark eyes. It was likely they were related. How would his pain affect her?

The boy went still as the older woman (his sister, perhaps) knelt beside him and placed her hands on his injury. The scientist's eyebrow rose as he saw her grip the ankle firmly, an expression of pure focus bright in her eyes.

Caesar wasn't a doctor. He was, however, a scientist that took great pleasure in observing the pain of his test subjects. As a result, he knew that the actions of the woman before him were more likely to make the injury worse than to ensure any healing.

Yet, even as those words passed through his head, the boy in the park relaxed. His pained expression softened into a tired smile as the woman finally removed her hands from his foot, placing them instead on her lap. She returned the smile before turning to comfort the dark haired girl on her other side. The child, it seemed, had been crying since the boy first fell.

But Caesar didn't care about that. His attention was focused on the ankle of the little boy, the one that was no longer the bruised and broken mess it had been seconds before the woman had touched it. He let his gaze slide over to where she sat in the grass, addressing both children in a voice that was too distant for him to hear. Theories swam through his head, theories that most would write of as ridiculous; Caesar was not most people.

The fake smile of the scientist morphed into a true grin as he began to laugh quietly to himself. The trio in the park could not hear him but the marines in the base behind him raised their heads at the sound. Once they saw the creepy apprentice of Vegapunk laughing for no apparent reason, they quickly turned away.

'Shurororororo' He laughed as the woman clipped a leash on the dog and led both it and the children down the street. As they passed him, he heard the children chatter excitedly about ice-cream. 'Shurororororo'

Oh, how exciting! He would have that woman. Just thinking about the things he could do made him giddy.

A hand fell on his shoulder heavily and Caesar turned, fighting the urge to balk at the contact. Vegapunk stood behind him, a suspicious look on his face. It was obvious that his business with the marines was over.

"You look happy." The man commented in a way that only Caesar truly recognized as wary. It was no secret that Caesar's moods made the other man uncomfortable.

"It's nothing important." Caesar oozed, still grinning despite himself. Oh, the experiments he could do! Now if he only knew how to obtain the specimen.

Vegapunk still looked wary, but after a moment of unimpressed silence, he shrugged it off. As he had not witnessed the event, he had no idea what Caesar was planning. The senior scientist nodded to his partner and began leading the way back to the marine ship assigned to them. By this evening, when they were both back on Punk Hazard, he would've forgotten about his worries completely.

Caesar laughed again.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

_2 years later:_

Lila leaned back against the park bench with a low sigh, watching her brother and Mocha even as she sat down to rest. Today had been hard, filled with the difficult chores that she had already put off for days now. Pair that with the fact that she had agreed to watch the kids today (a fact that had slipped her mind during the initial procrastination) and you had one tired girl.

"Hey Nee-chan?" Synd's voice called out from her right, pulling her back out into reality. She blinked before adopting her trademark smile, just for him.

"Yup, that's me! You can leave a message at the tone." The smile, which was rather cheeky, only continued as her brother rolled his eyes and fixed her with a week glare. Because he was so young, it just looked adorable.

"Don't be silly Nee-chan." He scolded. "I actually wanna know something."

"I'm older than you. Ergo, full rights to be silly." Lila stuck out her tongue playfully before sobering up somewhat. "What do you need, kiddo?"

Mocha ran up before Synd could answer, throwing her little arms around Lila's leg. She smiled brightly. "We wanna go get ice-cream again!"

Lila's smile faltered. The ice-cream place Mocha was talking about had been forced to close due to the frequent harassing of the G5. It had happened quite a while ago but she had been somewhat reluctant to tell the kids. It was _hard _explaining to a 6 year old concepts like debt and foreclosure. She had been avoiding mentioning the place for weeks just for that very reason.

Now, it seemed, her two little munchkins had decided to put her on the spot.

Synd nodded enthusiastically at Mocha's cry, grinning widely. "We should! We should!" He aimed a large pair of puppy eyes at his sister. "Please Nee-chan?"

The older girl sighed. Though she and Synd had similar eyes, she had never been able to pull off his mastery of manipulation. "How 'bout milkshakes?" She offered, racking her brain for places that were still open. There weren't very many, or at least, not any that were kid friendly.

There was a bar down town that served ice-cream. Hell would freeze over before she took the kids there though.

Mocha pouted, a cute little half frown that was nearly as heart-wrenching as Synd's eyes. "Why can't we get ice-cream Lila Nee-chan? Have we been bad?"

"No! Nothing like that!" Lila protested immediately, grasping for an excuse that they would understand. Finding none, she gave up. "You guys have been great, take it from me. It's just. . ." She took a breath, "The ice-cream shop isn't selling ice-cream anymore."

Synd gave her a weird look, one that told her that he just wasn't buying it. "It's an _ice-cream_ shop." His level of incredulousness was a bit surprising for a six year old. "What else would they sell?"

Mocha nodded in agreement.

"No, that's not what I meant." She tried again, honestly exasperated. "They're not selling anything anymore. The store's been closed."

"Oh. . ." Synd went quiet. "When are they opening again?"

Lila sighed. "Never, Synd."

Though the answer wasn't directed at her, Mocha spoke up. "Why?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Lila tried to be patient. These two were just kids; she had already known that they wouldn't understand. So she gave up trying to explain, giving them the short answer instead. They didn't need to know how the G5 bullied the ice-cream store into giving them a protection fee, nor how one of the marines had thrown a brick into the store's window a week before it closed.

She gave them a smile that was only slightly worn around the edges. "Because that's just how the world is."

Synd had been her brother long enough to know that smile and what it meant, that her patience was getting thin. He returned her smile and nodded.

Mocha, who had been around Lila nearly as much as Synd had, did the same. After a moment of silence, the little girl reached up and poked Lila in the arm. "I like milkshakes."

Lila smiled, genuinely this time, and got up with a flourish. "Well, what do ya' know?" She joked as she stretched, popping her back. "So do I! What do you say we go and get some? Sound like fun?"

Synd nodded just as enthusiastically as he had for the ice-cream. "Yeah! I want chocolate, extra-large!"

"Strawberry!" Mocha cheered. She grabbed Lila's hand with both of her smaller ones. "Please Lila Nee-chan?"

Lila laughed and, because she was the only one who actually knew where the milkshake place was, began to lead the way. Because Synd hadn't grabbed her hand like Mocha had, she kept a close eye to make sure that he was following her. "Yeah, yeah, that's fine. There's just one thing. You. . ." She paused to reach out and ruffle Synd's hair with her free hand. "Can't have an extra-large. Do you have any idea how fat you'll get?"

Synd scowled good naturedly and straightened his hair. "Who cares? There's more chocolate."

Scoffing, Lila opened her mouth to respond only to snap it shut at the last second. There was something in the air, something that her _sense _was already filtering out of her system. She froze, yanking Mocha to a stop and putting a hand in front of Synd. Both looked at her, startled and frightened.

"Nee-chan? What's goin-" Synd stopped abruptly as his sister suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth.

"_Shhh_." She hissed, panicked. Her eyes roved the street around them wildly. For the first time, she noticed that the three of them were the only ones there. A slight hissing sound was coming from a trashcan nearby. Suddenly serious, Lila rounded on her two charges. She grabbed Synd's arm. "Cover your mouth and nose. Try to breathe as little as possible. If you start getting dizzy, tug on my arm and I'll carry you."

Knowing that her tone brooked no objections, the two children immediately did as they were told. They were more than just afraid now, they were terrified. When Lila started walking again, the two stayed so close to her heels that she nearly tripped.

Lila watched them carefully, gripping Synd's arm more tightly when she noticed him wobble. The gas, for that's what her _sense_ told her it was, was an airborne anesthetic designed for knocking its victims unconscious. She didn't know who or why, but _someone _had set up a trap. A trap that they had just stumbled right into.

She gritted her teeth at that, for while her _sense _prevented her from being affected, nothing stopped Mocha and Synd from breathing it in. For all her talk, Lila knew that she wouldn't be able to carry both children at once. If neither of them could resist it, she'd be a sitting duck, waiting for whoever set the trap to come back and see what they caught.

Seeing an alley way nearby, Lila hurried her pace to as fast as the kids could go. Hopefully getting out of the open would lessen their exposure to the gas. As far as she could tell so far, most of the bulk of the cloud was in the main street. As it was still day and usually that street would be teeming with people, Lila found that odd.

Where had everyone gone? Had the gas already done its job? Were hoards of people just lying unconscious somewhere? Mocha had slowed to almost a crawl and Synd had started to cough, but Lila still pushed on. Even though she knew they were tired, she couldn't allow them to stop. She just had to focus on the alley; if they could get there then they would be safe.

Their destination grew closer and closer until Lila was finally able to drag her charges into cleaner air. She could feel the cleanliness of the air almost as soon as the main street was out of sight. Letting out the breath she hadn't realized that she'd held, Lila sagged against the wall in relief. She had been _right_; it was all she could think about. What if the alley _had _contained gas? How much longer would the kids have held out?

"Lila Nee-chan?" Mocha called out quietly, using her voice as little as possible. "Can we breathe now?"

Lila nodded, "Yes, but only for a little while. We're going to try to take the back alleys home, alright? There might be bad places around there too." Despite being relieved, she was still wary. If that trap on Main Street w_as_ for them, then it was likely the streets near their homes would be gassed as well.

"We're not getting milkshakes?" Synd asked, sounding disappointed. Being six, he didn't understand how serious the situation was; Mocha was probably the same. Their desires were placed before the realities of danger. Unfortunately, there was no real time to explain her reasoning. They'd just have to take it how it was.

"No." She said simply, keeping her eyes off their faces so that she could avoid seeing their hurt.

Perhaps the kids _could_ sense the seriousness of the situation, because they kept quiet after that. After a moment of silence, Lila grabbed their hands and started to pull forward once more. "Come on, we have to keep moving."

There was a low 'thwump' as something landed in the alley, coming to stand in front of her at precisely the same moment that she went to take a step. So Lila crashed, colliding headfirst with a hard chest that had simply not been there when she had lifted her foot. Her nose 'crunched' against muscles that were much harder than they should've been and Lila was sent sprawling to the ground.

Her little red hat went skidding away.

Mocha screamed, though whether it was caused by the sudden appearance of a stranger or by her fall, Lila did not know. She got to her feet quickly though, ready to rush to Mocha's aid if need be. But Mocha was unharmed, as was Synd. The stranger before them was motionless, not talking, not moving, not _anything_.

Lila pushed the children behind her, trying to look intimidating. Her poor attempt might have even worked, for despite being 5'3, Lila's nose was doing its best to make her look rather gory. Realizing her problem, the girl reached through the blood and snapped the appendage back into place. The man in front of her raised an eyebrow as the blood flow immediately stopped. Waiting until she was sure the muscle had knitted back together properly, Lila removed her hand and wiped the rest of the blood from her face. Once that had been taken care of, she turned to face the stranger fully.

"Who are you?"

The man frowned at her before reaching up to scratch a beard that, for some strange reason, had a piece of toast stuck to its left side. His sunglasses glinted in the sunlight as he tilted his head slightly. "I am Vergo." He said simply, almost politely. "And who are you?"

Despite the dangerous situation of a few moments ago, Lila found herself compelled to respond just as politely to the man. She managed to stop herself from blurting out her name however, if only for how suddenly this man had appeared after the initial gassing. She narrowed her eyes at him as another thought crossed her mind. Why jump out in front of her if he didn't already know who she was? Was it an accident? A mugging?

No, it couldn't be either. If it was an accident he would be on his way by now. If it was a mugging then he would have already attacked.

"I don't feel comfortable telling you." She said at last. Reaching behind her for the hands of Synd and Mocha, Lila gave the large man a pointed look. He was blocking the exit to the alley and the gas was still behind them. Whether he was a threat or not, she needed to get past him. The only question was whether he would let her or not.

Judging by the amount of muscle mass she had just smashed into, it probably wasn't the best idea to push past him either.

"Well that's unfortunate." The man, no, 'Vergo' didn't say another word for a long time. It seemed he was perfectly content to simply observe her from behind his sunglasses.

When he still didn't move, Lila cleared her throat. "I need to get past you. Can you please move?"

"No." It was so simple, so to the point, that Lila just blinked.

No? Did he want to trap her in the alley? Why? Just who was this guy? What did he want? Suddenly Lila felt an urge to run, to take the children and get the hell away from there. She found herself backing up, pressing the children back in the direction they'd come. Vergo followed her, almost step for step, until she stopped at the alley's mouth.

Already she could feel the gas come back into her, feel it being pushed back out by the _sense_. Mocha whimpered and Synd began coughing again. Lila gulped, honestly terrified. For the first time in her life, she didn't have a Plan B.

"Leave us alone." Her confident voice cracked; she sounded timid and scared. Lila was beginning to tremble slightly but she forced herself to look up anyway. She met Vergo's eyes. "We have nothing you want."

"You assume that." He said. "But yet, you have no way of knowing what I want."

He raised a hand then, but not in the way one would do if they were about to attack. Instead he held it in front of him, examining it as it transformed into what looked like a black pipe. He looked at the girl before him as if he was pondering something. "I wonder," He said at last. "How fast do you heal?"

Eyes widening in sudden horror, Lila barely had time to register the pain as something very hard slammed into the back of her head. Both Mocha and Synd screamed this time, shouting out the very name she had refused to give Vergo.

She could feel a nasty crack spreading up the back of her skull, but there was no time to seal it before the world simply went dark.

_**A/n: So there goes the first chapter. If you guys have any questions, this is where I'll answer them in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**_


End file.
